Page 20 - Sri Canakya Niti
P. 20

Preface to the First Edition

          stand out as one of history’s most profound political thinkers. Today
          in India’s capital city of Delhi, the diplomatic housing enclave bears
          his name: Chanakya Puri.

          The British scholar Dr. J.F. Fleet has written, “Kautilya (Chanakya)
          is renowned not only as a king-maker, but also for being the greatest
          Indian exponent of the art of government; the duty of kings, ministers

          and officials; and the methods of diplomacy.” We are told that the

          East India Company strongly urged its officers to study the writings
          of Chanakya Pandit if they hoped at all to succeed in ruling India.

          In his  Artha Shastra,  Chanakya Pandit identifies himself as being
          responsible for the overthrow of the corrupt Nanda dynasty of
          Magadha (present day Bihar State in Northern India). A brief account
          of how he accomplished this is herewith given:

          About 2300 years ago, the Greek conqueror Alexander the Great
          invaded the Indian sub-continent. His offensive upon the land’s
          patchwork of small  Vedic empires proved to be highly successful
          due to the disunity of the petty rulers. It was Chanakya Pandit who,
          feeling deeply distressed at heart, searched for and discovered a highly
          qualified leader in the person of Chandragupta Maurya. Although

          a mere dasi-putra, that is, a son of a maidservant by the Magadha
          King Nanda, Chandragupta was highly intelligent, courageous, and
          physically powerful. Chanakya cared little that by birth he should
          not have dared to approach the throne. A man of acute discretion,
          Chanakya desired that only a ruler of extraordinary capabilities be
          raised to the exalted post of King of Magadha so that the offensive
          launched by the Yavanas (Greeks) could be repressed. 1

          Legend says that Chanakya had been personally offended by King
          Nanda, and that this powerful brahmana had vowed to keep his long
          shikha unknotted until he saw to the demise of the contemptuous ruler
          and his drunken princes. True to his oath, it was only after Chanakya

          1. Chanakya shares his opinion of India’s Greek invaders in 8.5.

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